Bread and Breakfast

Crunch.

Seri was sitting on a queen-sized bed, munching on toasted bread over a towel in her lap.

Crunch.

I did the same as her, on a pullout couch the width of a twin bed.

This was usually how it went. Whenever I went on group trips, the guys always slept on the floor or couch. It actually made me rather proud; I saw that as the peak of gen Z chivalry.

I sighed through my nose. We landed in a coastal city known for its extravagant food, yet here we were, eating white bread at midnight. Upon landing, one look at the taxi prices drove us straight towards the grocery store. After all, the spontaneous nature of our trip meant our budgets were limited.

Unfortunately, our B&B didn’t even have a kitchen or any of its basic components — no microwave, no fridge, no kettle, no table. It was a bed and a couch and a nightstand in between. Perishables were out of the equation, hence our plain food of choice. Our only luxuries were tap water and white bread, and I was eating my fill of both of them.

“Phh-“ I struggled to speak. I wanted to know if she wanted more toast.

“Mmmph?” Seri… asked? I wasn’t sure, but her tonal inflection indicated that it was a question.

I took out my phone and started texting her. I wasn’t even gonna risk choking to death on white bread. Especially not before the Ed Sheeran concert. What an unseasoned way to die.

“U want more bread?” I texted.

“I need to brush my teeth”

“Ok”

The silence made our situation amusing. We sat separately, tapping away at our phone screens while our cheeks were inflated with carbohydrates.

My phone buzzed. I saw that Seri had sent me a post on social media. Kevin, my old nursing friend, had his arm around a girl at a corn maze.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“Emily hard launched Kevin!”

“They’re dating?”

“Yea u didn’t know? I dont like him”

The conversation started to enter gossip territory. In the past I never liked to talk about my friends behind their back, but I stopped caring after the hotpot ordeal. It’s not like there’d be other opportunities for me to know what’s going on.

“Why?”

I saw Seri squirm a little on the bed. We made eye contact.

“Are u guys close?”

It seemed like she was prodding for the go ahead to talk smack. I gave her a green light.

“Yea i dont like him either”

Seri replied instantly. “OMG yeah he hits on everyone. He was talking to michelle first but then she got a boyfriend and started hitting on emily”

“Damn rebound?”

“Yea he’s so sketch”

I reminisced on my relationship with Kevin himself. Kevin Nguyen. I didn’t know much, other than that he loved tattoos and red flannels and expensive runners despite the fact that he never runs. There were memes about guys named Kevin Nguyen, and he seemed the stereotypical embodiment of one. Maybe my impression would’ve been different if I knew him better. Despite being a friendly guy, he’s quite pushy with boundaries — especially with girls — so my impression of him wasn’t flawless.

I kept texting Seri. “One time Vivian said she liked watermelons and he carried one to her doorstep”

“Wtf? He’s down bad LOL”

“Down astronomically”

Seri giggled. I had since swallowed my bread, but we were both having so much fun that the conversation stayed within our phones.

“Is it true he has a dragon tattoo?” she asked. I wondered where these rumours came from.

“Idk u should ask emily”

“He seems like a dragon tattoo kinda guy”

“Well his name’s kevin nguyen”

Something about silent humour added to the comedic effect. Seri laughed, and I shushed her with a finger. It was midnight, so she proceeded to laugh into her pillow. She gave a high pitched, raspy laugh; the kind that suited university degenerates at midnight. I couldn’t help but chuckle as I watched her.

After our laughing fit settled down, Seri walked towards the washroom.

Ding.

“Are you excited for the Ed concert?” she sent. The idea that she was texting me on the toilet made me freeze in my seat. The door wasn’t even fully closed. What else could she have been doing there?

She’s probably done this before… I told myself. I decided to ask, just to be safe.

“Are u taking a shit lmao”

…

No reply. Was that too much? I tried to make it sound funny. I heard footsteps from the washroom.

Seri walked out, and it seemed like her pants were still on. She aggressively squinted at me with a toothbrush in her mouth and baby blue foam dripping down her chin.

Pffft.

There was no way you could expect me to keep a straight face. I snickered violently, and Seri started choking on toothpaste. She hacked the minty phlegm out of her windpipes into our trash bin in the corner.

Knock knock knock.

We stopped in our tracks and looked around. The sound didn’t come from our door.

“What was that?” I asked.

“Probably ppl upstairs. Lights out was two hours ago”

“O.” That made sense. It was a total buzzkill though.

“Well brb” she texted. “Im gonna take a shit fr”

“Gross”

Seri went back to the washroom and closed it this time, while I started thinking about washing up too.

I carefully folded the towels we used for bread crumbs on the nightstand. As I waited, I thought about how some things were way easier to text Seri. If we were talking verbally, I would’ve felt bad about making fun of Kevin and watched my words more. This aspect of instant messaging made it dangerous, but if it let me have this interaction with Seri, I found it worthwhile.

Maybe I should take this opportunity to say things I wouldn’t usually say…

“Thanks for finals btw”

I didn’t see the read receipts, so she really wasn’t on her phone. I took a deep breath and decided to keep texting. It felt awkward typing it all in one message, so I decided to spam her a little.

“Meeting u made me want to try harder for pharm”

“Im glad we studied and did all the things we did”

“University is really fun now thanks to u. I thought id be alone so its been such a blessing”

“I wasnt expecting to bomb the exam that hard so i was really sad”

“Ig i just want to get into pharmacy with you really badly”

The toilet flushed. My fingers scrambled to get the last words in before she could read what I sent.

“I really appreciate the hug and you planning the trip”

My fingers froze. There were words I wanted to say, that I was scared to say — words that could've made the rest of the trip awkward if she didn’t feel the same way. The messages I sent might’ve been too much already.

“Gn. Theres smth i wanna tell u tmrw”

I instantly regretted the second half of my message right as I sent it. Now neither of us would be able to sleep. Beads of sweat formed on my forehead as the washroom door creaked open.

Seri came through the washroom door just as I put my phone down. She held hers as she stretched. It didn’t seem like she read my messages. I did my best to avoid eye contact. I heard a poomf from her bed as she plopped down with a sigh.

I guess I should brush my teeth too…

“Sunny,” Seri whispered. I looked up. Her face flushed and glistened like it usually did after her skincare routine. She pointed towards the ceiling, and beckoned me closer with a finger. I assumed she wanted to whisper to not bother the people upstairs.

As I turned my ear towards her, Seri gently tilted my face back. I inhaled. The intense gaze of her chocolate irises quickened my pulse, as my heart was in denial about what was happening. I was close enough to count each of her individual eyelashes.

Maybe she’s just being nice, my neanderthal brain suggested.

Seri quickly leaned forwards. The way her lips warmly pressed against mine wiped away most of my neurological functions. With my eyes still open in shock, I glanced towards her phone.

The messages I had sent were displayed on her notification screen.

Ah.

So she read them after all.